Josh Green’s hopes of representing Australia at the Paris Olympics will rest on scans and rehabilitation after he suffered an ankle injury during Dallas’s 126-119 NBA defeat at Oklahoma City.
With the Mavericks already missing superstar Slovenian Luka Doncic (hamstring) for Friday’s (AEDT) clash with the Thunder, Green went down early in the opening quarter. He stepped on teammate Dereck Lively II’s foot, seriously rolling his right ankle and failing to return from the locker room.
Compatriot and Mavs teammate Dante Exum was also hurt late in third term, crashing to the floor, but came back on after a brief spell and finished with seven points.
Fellow Boomers star Josh Giddey had a big night with 18 points, three rebounds and five assists, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 and Jalen Williams 27 for the Western Conference-leading Thunder (46-20).
Kyrie Irving led all scorers with 36, completing his double-double with 12 assists.
Earlier, Jaylen Brown had 37 points and Jayson Tatum 26 as Boston powered past Phoenix 127-112 at TD Garden.Al Horford added 24, which included six of the Celtics’ season high-tying 25 three-pointers to help the hosts down the Suns for the second time in week. Eastern Conference-leading Boston improved to an NBA-best 52-14.
Devin Booker led the Suns (38-28) with 23 points, while Bradley Beal finished with 22 points and seven assists and both Kevin Durant and Grayson Allen added 20 points.
Last week, the Celtics overpowered a Phoenix team playing without Booker (ankle) during a double-digit win in Arizona, despite a 45-point night by Durant.
Durant came out hot again, but Booker started slowly before finishing 9 of 20 from the field.
The All-Star duo of Tatum and Brown combined for 43 of Boston’s 65 first-half points.
Elsewhere, the Rockets, with Australia’s Jock Landale registering 13 points, five rebounds and one assist, took care of the Washington Wizards 135-119 in Houston, but Duop Reath and Matisse Thybulle’s Trail Blazers were beaten 105-93 by the New York Knicks in Portland.